You haven't lived here until ... You visit the Museum on Main Street

Oct. 26, 2013

Ann Arbor's Museum on Main Street is hosting an exhibit called 'The Legacy of Michigan Football: Collection of a Superfan.' The museum is a restored 1830s house, moved to its present location in 1990. / Beverly Willis/Washtenaw County Historical Society

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The home that houses the Museum on Main Street was built in the 1830s. In 1890, the house was purchased by Charles Greiner, a gardener who worked in the nearby greenhouses. His descendants occupied the house for the next 100 years. A descendant of the family gave the musuem, shown here with Mrs. Greiner and her daughters in front of what looks like a farmhouse. / Museum on Main Street

WHERE IS IT? The Museum on Main Street is a restored 1830s house that features rotating exhibits showcasing the history of Washtenaw County. It’s at 500 N. Main St. in Ann Arbor — but that wasn’t always its home.

The house was built on Wall Street in a part of the city known as Lower Town, said Susan Wineberg, a board member of the Washtenaw County Historical Society. It had come under the ownership of the University of Michigan and was slated for demolition when Wineberg and other society members stepped in to save it.

The university donated the house, and in 1990, it was moved across the Broadway Bridge to its current location on a piece of city-owned land that was once the site of a gas station. Offices are on the top floor, exhibit space on the ground floor, and archives and artifacts in the basement.

WHAT CAN I SEE THERE? Exhibits at the museum change about three times a year. Past displays have included themes centered on dating and courtship, bad habits, the Civil War, local roads and toys. During “Rest in Peace: The Washtenaw Way of Death,” an 1890s casket was the showpiece in a display that replicated an era when dead bodies were laid out in people’s homes rather than funeral parlors.

IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON: The current exhibit is “The Legacy of Michigan Football: Collection of a Superfan,” which features several dozen items on loan from the collection of Ken Magee. He has been collecting U-M memorabilia since he was 6 and owns the Ann Arbor Sports Memorabilia Shop.

The exhibit, which runs through Dec. 1, includes game-day programs, football gear, a Little Brown Jug replica and a 1920s blue-and-yellow clarinet from the marching band.

But the “holy grail,” according to Magee, is a 1902 program from the first Rose Bowl game, when Michigan defeated Stanford 49-0. The 40-page, charcoal gray program is one of four still believed to exist, Magee said.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW? The museum is open noon-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. It’s also open noon-3 p.m. Mondays for the duration of the U-M football exhibit. People who want to see it at other times can call for an appointment. Admission is free.